Hey everyone 👋
I shipped my first App Store app a few months ago: Brainfool .
It’s a tiny daily puzzle loop:
one game a day, chosen for you from Sudoku, Binary Puzzle, Nonogram, or Slitherlink.
Offline. No ads. No rankings. Finish or bail → a slightly sharp closing line. Come back tomorrow.
I built it as a quieter alternative to “homework factory” puzzle apps.
I’m not fishing for generic praise. I’m trying to decide three things:
- Rules: If you get Binary / Nonogram / Slitherlink, is the first-time intro enough to start filling — or do you bounce?
- Difficulty: Roughly how long until finish or give-up? Too easy, about right, or stuck-frustrating?
- The constraint: After one game, do you want tomorrow — or do you wish you could play another right away?
iOS, free: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6770218110
If you try it, a short answer to any of the three is perfect.
If a rating/review feels fair after that, great — if not, the feedback still helps.
Also curious: when you ask strangers to test something you shipped, what question format gets you the most useful replies?
Top comments (17)
Hey moyunzero, I read your post about your first App Store puzzle app. I'm a solo founder too and stuck on the same problem with my own tool, so I'm curious: who's the one kind of person you'd most want using it right now?
Those who want to think quietly every day-open, play a puzzle for the day, and finish.
No ratings, ads, or rankings. Nor is it the kind of thing that makes missing a day feel like a failure, refusing to clock in every day.
I like that approach. Making a daily puzzle feel relaxing rather than turning it into another obligation is a thoughtful choice. How did you decide to avoid streaks and rankings when so many puzzle apps rely on them?
The design of the ranking list was confirmed to be excluded before the app was developed, because it was too similar to what is called "internal competition": opening the app is not for relaxing or exercising the mind, but rather to check if one's ranking has changed. It's very tiring.
Even the sign-in process still exists, but it was deliberately made gentle: missing one day has a shield effect, and one can continue filling in overnight. "Missing" is not made to create a sense of failure.
For this app, the effect I want is to be able to quietly exercise the mind during free time each day, not another task.
I really like that philosophy. Designing around how people want to feel, rather than what keeps them checking the app, is a thoughtful choice. The overnight catch-up is a nice touch too. Have you had any early feedback on whether that gentler approach makes people more likely to keep coming back?
At present, only a few friends around in the use, other users did not download feedback in the comments area, from the background data is not ideal
That makes sense. Early feedback can be hard to get when most users are people you already know. Have you tried reaching puzzle communities yet, or are you focusing on improving the app before promoting it more widely?
I haven't really touched on the puzzle gaming community yet, and I've only commented on related Reddit posts. I'm not very good at promotion.
I get that. Promotion is a skill of its own, especially when you're building solo. One thing that might help is finding people already discussing the kind of puzzle experience you're offering, rather than just promoting the app itself.
That's actually part of what I'm building with FounderPulse: helping founders find relevant conversations where their product could genuinely help, with the context and a suggested first message. Might be useful for reaching puzzle enthusiasts on Reddit. Have you found it difficult to identify the right conversations, or mainly to turn them into users?
I can post about the app — what’s harder is knowing which threads actually want this kind of quiet daily puzzle, without sounding like a drive-by promo. Turning that into downloads is still fuzzy for me too.
Your angle with FounderPulse makes sense. I’ll keep an eye on it.
That's the hard part, yes. One way to find those threads without sounding like promo: look for people asking "any daily puzzle game without ads?" or "something like Wordle but...". Those people are literally asking for a recommendation, so answering with your app is the help they want.
Okay, I‘ll give it a try. Thank you for your advice!
Good luck with it! If you try it, I'd love to hear what worked and what didn't.
"I'm just a beginner who shipped something" is doing a lot of hiding in that sentence. Shipping is the part most people never do. The nervous feeling about sharing it is your subconscious filter, the RAS, scanning for rejection because putting work in public reads as risk. It isn't a sign the app isn't ready.
On your question: asking sounds desperate when it's vague and apologetic, like "any feedback would mean so much." It sounds confident when it's specific: "I'm trying to decide if the daily puzzle is too easy. Did you finish it in under two minutes?" A specific question tells people you respect their time and you know what you're testing. Then thank whoever answers and move on, whatever they say. Outside the app, keep feeding the filter too. Genuine compliment to a stranger. When that is easy, add a bit of conversation. Does not matter how it lands. The action is the win. Congrats on getting Brainfool live.
Thanks, Christopher. This is fair. Next time I’ll ask one specific question instead of a vague plea. Appreciate the encouragement and the congrats！！！！
Congrats on your first app! One puzzle a day, no ads, and no rankings sounds like a nice way to take a break. Your explanation is clear. Good luck with Brainfool!
Thanks — that means a lot.
Yeah, I wanted something you can finish and put down. If you try it and anything feels off, tell me.